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By Marc Killinger SOURCE: La Nación

Internationally known Chilean novelist Isabel Allende, the author of such bestsellers as The House of Spirits, Paula and Eva Luna says she receives innumerable letters about her work. She can't respond to all of them personally, but does answer questions about her writing, her life as the niece of former Chilean President Salvador Allende and other topics on her website at www.isabelallende.com. Here are some of the common questions and her responses.

Q: Where does your inspiration come from, and how does it work?

A: I hunt for stories, and I'm a good listener. We all have our histories, and they're all interesting, if told well. I read newspapers, and even the tiniest bit of buried news can provide my inspiration for an entire novel. Then, I spend 10 or 12 hours a day, writing alone in a room. I don't talk to anyone, I don't answer the telephone.

I'm just a medium or an instrument through which voices speak. I invent a world that's fictional but doesn't belong to me. I'm not conscious of what I write. It's as if in this "false fiction" you discover little truths about yourself, about life, people and how the world functions.

Q: Do spirits really appear and evoke words or scenes for you?

A: During my years of writing, things have happened in my life and in my writing that have convinced me that another world exists. And when you spend many hours - as I tend to do - alone and in silence, it's possible to see that world. Sometimes I write something, and I'm practically convinced that it's just my imagination. Months or years later I discover that it was true.

Q: Why do you always start writing your books on Jan. 8?

A: On Jan. 8, 1981 I was living in Venezuela and I received a call: my beloved grandfather had died. I started a letter for him that became my first novel, The House of Spirits. It was like a book of good luck from the start, and I kept that lucky date.

Q: Can you talk about the healing elements of writing, and especially about writing your book, Paula? I would think that writing it was very difficult and painful, although your experience of death, sickness and tragedy was a gift to many people.

A: When I was writing Paula, my assistant would come into the office and find me crying. She would hug me and say, "You don't have to write this." And I would say, "I am crying because I'm healing. Writing is my way of mourning, so it's it's OK I cry. It's great that I can cry." When I wrote about Paula and our life together, I recorded it forever. I will never forget. That is the life of the spirit.

Q: You come from a most unusual family. Would you talk about your uncle, Salvador Allende, and how he influenced your life?

A: I don't think he influenced my life much until he died.

When we had the military coup in Chile in 1973, it wasn't him but the military takeover that changed the lives of so many Chileans.

Salvador Allende was an uncle in an extended family. I saw him on weekends, but I didn't live with him. After the military coup, I realized he had a historical dimension that I only saw after I left Chile, because after the coup, his name was banned. When I went to Venezuela, every time I said my name people would ask immediately if I was related to Salvador Allende. Then I realized what a man he was.

Q: Will you ever write a book about him?

A: No, I don't think so. I'm not good at biography, and in this case I could not be objective.

Q: Do you think that what happened to your uncle was his destiny?

A: Yes. But this doesn't mean that the people who assassinated him aren't to blame. I think torturers and assassins are still to blame and we should arrest them.

Q: Will you return to Chile?

A: I go to visit my mother every year and I feel very good there. But I don't think I could live in Chile now, especially since my home is in the United States. Really, I don't miss Chile because I can go there whenever I want.